There are some transitional instruments made by Gretsch - from late 1938 to early 1940 (probably from existing stock) - which carry Bacon serial numbers, and Bacon stamps. 1940 Gretsch purchased the Bacon Banjo Company in early 1940.

CO: About that same time, Baldwin was expanding, looking into possibly purchasing the Salstrom Banjo Company of Oregon, Illinois. On the day the Baldwin execs were touring Salstrom, there happened to be a banjo collector there name Clyde Richelieu.Clyde was very knowledgeable about banjos, and a strong ODE fan. He mentioned to the Baldwin people that he felt ODE was a superior instrument, and Baldwin ended buying ODE while Salstrom was later purchased by Fender. A few years later, Richelieu purchased Strom Banjos of Brainard, Minnesota, and started building Richelieu banjos in Oregon, Wisconsin, where the company still operates under Rick Tipple. At that time I was in engineering school at the university. We’d take a coffee break between classes.

I remember walking from the engineering area into the cafeteria next door. Ikonki dlya klana windows 7. You had to go through this place called the Timberline Lounge where the mountaineering people hung out.

There was a lady playing guitar and singing, and some guy playing the banjo. It just totally blew me away. Actually, the “lady” turned out to be Judy Collins.

I don’t know who the banjo player was but that incident inspired me to start playing the guitar again. CO: Baldwin owned Gretsch then! Baldwin had been making only pianos and organs. Then they got into this corporate mode of expansion. They bought Burns Guitar of the UK, Sho-Bud Pedal Steel, an electronic harpsichord company, Gretsch and others.

Their idea was to create a full-line music business the quick way, by purchasing all these companies and then introducing them into their piano and organ chain divisions. They were apparently quite successful. Baldwin was also heavily into electronics. They got into military contracts, making guidance systems for Sidewinder missiles. Finally, they got into banking, because in the piano and organ business, you sold things on time payment plans. It became financing.

First, financing pianos and organs, all the way into buying banks. They ended up, I believe, buying several banks, including the Empire Savings and Loan in Denver. They expanded big, buisness-wise with the banking thing. But apparently, they over-expanded and had to declare bankruptcy. This, however, wasn’t because of the instrument business and it probably had nothing to do with the banjo busniess. The banjo part was probably the one-tenth of one percent of their whoe business. They had several thousand people working for them.

The banjo company might have had five or maybe ten workers. When they went Chapter Eleven, they started liquidating things and ended up selling the ODE Banjo division, which was part of Baldwin-Gretsch. An interesting point: when Baldwin bought the company from me in 1966, they designed a banner that said “Baldwin”. Camedia master software download. They didn’t use the word, “ODE” on the peghead originally.

However, they found that the market did not want a Baldwin: it wanted an ODE. So, they added the word “ODE” to the banner. Then I herad they eventually dropped Baldwin and just put ODE on the peghead. In fact, I just saw one downstairs (at the vendors’ stands), an ODE, with no word “Baldwin” on it, but it was made by Baldwin about 1980. So, the sequence of logos was “Baldwin”, then “Baldwin ODE”, then just “ODE”. I should have checked the serial number of that one I just saw.

Baldwin ODE model 6510 2SR Excellent original condition - no fret wear showing, no visible dents, dings, or scratches. No repairs done nor needed.

Dark natural finish, ivoroid bound mahogany resonator, 5 piece mahogany/maple/rosewood neck, aluminum archtop rim with brass tone hoop, 11' head, 24 brackets, shoes and flanges, rosewood fretboard with dot inlays, 22 frets, rosewood headstock overlay features ODE logo inlay and Baldwin banner, heavy brass tension hoop, all geared tuners, ODE 3-way adjustable tailpiece, armrest. All hardware is nickel plated, with the exception of the tailpiece which is chrome. Has a 5th string sliding capo installed. Will come shipped in the original green lined Lifton hard shell case.